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Firsthand History- Monday- 1st period
Sunday, December 4th, 2016 08:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
throughaphaseClass met at the causeway today, where they then took a portal to...
"Welcome to Berlin, on November 9, 1989," Kitty began. "After World War II, Germany was split into two sides: East Germany was communist, while West Germany was democratic. The German Democratic Republic of East Germany put up a 96-mile concrete wall in 1961 to separate the two, and to keep East Germans from escaping to the western side, or 'conspire with the enemy' or whatever. 3.5 million East Germans emigrated to West Germany before the wall. The East side considered it an Anti-Facist Protective Wall, but for all the so-called protection it divided families and friends, who were unable to see each other for years.
"Then in 1987, David Bowie played a concert in West Berlin, close to the wall. East Berlin could hear it, and started riots, which was the first in a series of riots against the wall. President Reagan spoke out against it. then in 1989, 13,000 East Germans escaped through Hungary to Austria, which set off a chain of events including travel restrictions and more refugees fleeing and protests, and finally there were crossings open between East and West Germany, including through Berlin. The party leader was given a statement to read at a press conference but didn't know how to interpret it, and he thought the changes took place immediately. So thousands of people flooded the gates, demanding to be let through. There were so many people the guards really had no choice, and people streamed through to reconnect with people, and to literally start chipping away at the wall with tools.
"So this is your scene today. If you want to help tear something down, go for it. It's gonna take a while to finish, I doubt they'll mind the help. If you want to just watch the scene, that's fine too."
"Welcome to Berlin, on November 9, 1989," Kitty began. "After World War II, Germany was split into two sides: East Germany was communist, while West Germany was democratic. The German Democratic Republic of East Germany put up a 96-mile concrete wall in 1961 to separate the two, and to keep East Germans from escaping to the western side, or 'conspire with the enemy' or whatever. 3.5 million East Germans emigrated to West Germany before the wall. The East side considered it an Anti-Facist Protective Wall, but for all the so-called protection it divided families and friends, who were unable to see each other for years.
"Then in 1987, David Bowie played a concert in West Berlin, close to the wall. East Berlin could hear it, and started riots, which was the first in a series of riots against the wall. President Reagan spoke out against it. then in 1989, 13,000 East Germans escaped through Hungary to Austria, which set off a chain of events including travel restrictions and more refugees fleeing and protests, and finally there were crossings open between East and West Germany, including through Berlin. The party leader was given a statement to read at a press conference but didn't know how to interpret it, and he thought the changes took place immediately. So thousands of people flooded the gates, demanding to be let through. There were so many people the guards really had no choice, and people streamed through to reconnect with people, and to literally start chipping away at the wall with tools.
"So this is your scene today. If you want to help tear something down, go for it. It's gonna take a while to finish, I doubt they'll mind the help. If you want to just watch the scene, that's fine too."